1. Gabrielle McFadden won the seat vacated by her deceased sister

The by-election was called after sitting TD Nicky McFadden passed away from Motor Neuron Disease at the age of 51. Understandably the victory was a bitter sweet moment for Ms McFadden as she remembered her beloved sister.

Ruth Coppinger wins a Dail seat for the Socialist Party in the Dublin West by-election after a race that went six counts. The front runner was Sinn Fein's Paul Donnelly, but the final race was between Ruth Coppinger and Fianna Fail's David McGuinness.

At the time of writing, Sinn Fein were only eight seats behind Fine Gael and eight seats away from being the second largest party in local government. The party are predicted to triple their seats by the time all counts are in.

With 27 candidates, the Ennis local election was the largest and most unwieldy. It's a tribute to the efficiency of the count centre staff that the area was finished well before some other smaller areas.

"If anyone else has a better idea...." the Taoiseach said during an interview on RTE. The Taoiseach was again excusing the Coalition's poor performance at the polls as a direct consequence of being forced to sort out the country's finances.